General Election 2017: what are the parties saying on public transport and disability rights?

Trailblazer Emma Vogelmann has spinal muscular atrophy Type 2 and has written a series of blogs on where the parties stand on key issues in General Election 2017: For this blog, we’re going to be looking at what each political party has said about other issues Trailblazers are campaigning on. Bear in mind not all parties will cover all these issues in their manifestos but that doesn’t mean they won’t act on the issues if they are elected. Trailblazers will continue to campaign on all these issues with the next Parliament.

Here are some key Trailblazer issues and what each party has said about them:

Access to Public Transport

Trailblazers have been campaigning improve access to public transport since the launch of the first End of the Line report in 2009. Seven years later, a new investigation was launched, End of the Line 2016, which highlighted that despite some progress, public transport remains a challenge for many young disabled people across the UK.

Conservatives –

1. Review disabled people’s access and amend regulations if necessary to improve disabled access to licensed premises, parking and housing

Labour –

1. Introduce legal duties to improve accessibility for people with disabilities

Liberal Democrats –

1. Continue the Access for All programme, improving disabled access to public transport as a key priority

2. Improve the legislative framework governing blue badges, setting up a benchmarking standard for accessible cities, and bringing into effect the provisions of the 2010 Equality Act on discrimination by private hire vehicles and taxis

Hate crime

Trailblazers started campaigning to improve awareness of disability related hate crimes after receiving alarming reports from young disabled people in 2011. A report called, Under Investigation, reveals the very real issue of disability hate crime and the damage it can cause to the lives of young disabled people.

Conservatives –

1. Push forward with plan for tackling hate crime committed on the basis of religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity

Labour –

1. Enhance the 2010 Equality Act, enabling discrimination at work to be challenged. We will ensure that under the Istanbul Convention, disability hate crime is reported annually, with national actions plans to address these issues

Liberal Democrats –

1. Reduce hate crimes by targeting the people who commit them and making all hate crimes aggravated offences, allowing for harsher sentencing of perpetrators

Trailblazers will continue to campaign on all of these issues and work with MPs in the next Parliament.

This was originally published on the Trailblazers’ (Muscular Dystrophy UK’s young disabled people’s network) website as part of a series of blogs on the General Election 2017 Manifestos. http://www.musculardystrophyuk.org/your-stories/general-election-2017-what-are-the-parties-saying-on-public-transport-and-disability-rights/